1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to butterfly mops. In particular, to a butterfly mop where the sponge member of the mop is adapted to be either folded inwardly upon itself and compressed or folded outwardly upon itself into a compact structure with the underside of the sponge member exposed.
2. Background Discussion
Butterfly mops are conventional cleaning devices which include a handle having mounted at one end a sponge member which is adapted to be folded approximately in half and squeezed to remove water contained in the pores of the sponge. A typical mops are illustrated in the following patents:
______________________________________ Inventor Patent No. ______________________________________ J. Palama, Jr., et al 2,685,098 P. S. Vosbikian et al 2,725,585 H. Gantz 2,730,741 W. H. Richards, et al 2,757,398 F. Zottola 2,730,743 F. Zottola 2,858,557 P. S. Vosbikian, et al 2,883,689 A. E. Clements 2,896,235 F. B. Zottola 2,916,754 W. H. Richards 2,967,317 P. A. Morgan 3,050,761 W. H. Richards 3,147,502 K. Morrison, et al 4,831,677 D. A. Jones 4,864,675 U.K. Patent 793,981 ______________________________________
Prior art butterfly mops are characterized by complicated, mechanical structure to compress the sponge member. Such complex mechanical structure is bulky, costly to manufacture, and impossible to use in narrow recesses. As a general rule, these butterfly mops are only designed to compress the sponge member and do not fold the sponge member outwardly upon itself to expose substantially all of the underside of sponge member when so folded. This has not been recognized as a desirable attribute of butterfly mops until the present invention.